President Vladimir Putin has warned Russia will seek to extend its gains in Ukraine if the country and its allies do not engage over US proposals for a peace settlement.
US President Donald Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push to end nearly four years of fighting following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 but US efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Russia and Ukraine.
Speaking at an annual meeting with top military officers, Putin said Russia would prefer to achieve its goals and "eliminate the root causes of the conflict" by diplomatic means but he added that "if the opposing side and its foreign patrons refuse to engage in substantive dialogue, Russia will achieve the liberation of its historical lands by military means".
Putin was referring to Ukrainian territory seized by Russia - action widely condemned by its allies as a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and an unprovoked act of aggression.
Putin said "the Russian army has seized and is firmly holding strategic initiative all along the front line" and warned that the forces will move to expand a "buffer security zone" alongside the Russian border.
"Our troops are different now, they are battle-hardened and there is no other such army in the world now," he said.
Russia says it controls about 19 per cent of Ukraine, including the Crimea peninsula which it annexed in 2014, as well as most of the eastern Donbas region, much of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and slivers of four other regions.
Russia says Crimea, Donbas, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are now parts of Russia.
Ukraine says it will never accept that, and almost all countries consider the regions to be part of Ukraine.
Defence Minister Andrei Belousov said a task for 2026 was to increase the pace of Russia's offensive.
A slide shown during a speech he delivered said Russia was spending 5.1 per cent of gross domestic product on the war in 2025.
European leaders say they stand with Ukraine and that Russia should not be rewarded for the war, which followed several years of fighting between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops in the Donbas region.
Putin said former US president Joe Biden's administration had sought to destroy Russia and that some European politicians had also been pursuing the same objective, a charge denied by European leaders.
He accused European politicians - whom he described as "shoats" or "young pigs" - of whipping up hysteria about a potential war with Russia by warning that Russian forces could one day attack a country in the NATO military alliance.
"I have repeatedly stated: this is a lie, nonsense, pure nonsense about some imaginary Russian threat to European countries. But this is being done quite deliberately," Putin said.
Some European leaders have accused Russia of having no real intention of engaging in peace talks.
Directing similar criticism at Europe, Belousov said European powers were trying to scuttle attempts to end the war and talking of a war between Russia and NATO within a few years.
"Such a policy creates real prerequisites for the continuation of military operations next year, 2026," he said.
Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday that the United States was preparing a further round of sanctions targeting Russia's energy sector to increase pressure on the Kremlin should it reject a peace deal with Ukraine, citing people familiar with the matter.
A White House official told Reuters that Trump had made no new decisions regarding Russian sanctions.
"It is the role of agencies to prepare options for the president to execute," the official said.
At least 26 people were injured by Russian glide bombs in Zaporizhzhia and its vicinity on Wednesday, according to regional administration head Ivan Fedorov.
The attack damaged several residential buildings as well as infrastructure and an educational facility.
At least 69 long-range drones were launched by Russia overnight, the Ukrainian air force said.
Air defences intercepted or jammed 29 drones in the morning, with the assault continuing during the day.
Russia's Defense Ministry said that air defences downed 94 Ukrainian drones overnight.
In Russia's southern Krasnodar region, drones injured two people and damaged several private houses, according to regional emergency officials.
with Reuters
